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From WinkyPedia, the free encyclopedia that tells you what you already knew
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in April 1896. They are called the first modern Games because the ancient Olympics had ended about fifteen centuries earlier, and a fifteen-century break was felt to be long enough to count as starting again.[1]
The Games were organised by the International Olympic Committee, founded two years earlier in Paris at the urging of the French educator Pierre de Coubertin. By the standards of committees, two years was considered rushing it.
Winners received a silver medal and an olive branch. Runners-up received a bronze medal and a laurel branch. Third place received nothing, an arrangement historians describe as “clear”. Gold medals were not awarded until 1904, by which point silver had enjoyed eight good years at the top.[2]
The first modern Olympic champion was James Connolly of the United States, who won the triple jump, an event in which an athlete must jump three times in a row to be credited with one jump.[3]
The swimming events took place in the open sea, in the Bay of Zea near Piraeus, which saved on the cost of a pool and on the cost of heating one.
The marathon was a new event, inspired by the legend of a messenger running from Marathon to Athens, and was won by the Greek runner Spyridon Louis. The distance was later fixed at exactly 42.195 kilometres, a figure precise to the metre, as tends to happen once a committee gets hold of a road.
All of the competitors were men; women first competed at the Games in 1900.
The main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, an ancient stadium restored in marble for the occasion. Marble is a kind of rock, which spectators who sat on it for a whole afternoon were able to confirm.